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Please read through the Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs) below to answer some of the most common questions students ask about my
course. If you don't find the answer to your question, please feel free to
email me at darrencs@fullcoll.edu.
No. This course actually will require more of
your time participating in the discussion forums, taking the on-line quizzes,
checking the course websites, and doing the reading. The main advantage of
this hybrid course is its flexibility: meet one day a week and do the
on-line work at your convenience.
We (the English Department) believe that this hybrid
version offers the best of both worlds: contact with your professor and the
flexibility to complete the work that does not require instructor contact.
While I do not want to discourage anyone from taking this
hybrid course, you do need to know that at least 50 percent of the work you do
in this course depends on your ease at using technology. First you should
be familiar with basic computer skills (opening, closing, saving, and renaming
files); you should be familiar with a standard word processor (MS Word
[preferably],
MS Works, WordPerfect); you should be proficient in
navigating the World Wide Web; you should be comfortable downloading files (if
you have MS Office installed on your computer workstation, my
files will download seamlessly); you must use a private, non-AOL email address.
Dedication and commitment are necessary for completing
any course. You have to discipline yourself to keep up with the on-line
work. Many students fall behind because they lack self-motivation.
You should ask yourself whether you have these personality traits before you
make a decision to take this course.
This is the perennial question every student wants to
know. :) I don't believe any of the faculty who teaches English 100
at Fullerton College is particularly easy, but I do admit to having high
expectations for my students. Yet, while they are high, they are not
unreasonable either. Because I have taught this same course at the
university level, I set the same standards for my students. As I see it,
part of my job is to give you the tools to be competitive with university
students. Anyone who completes my writing course will have no trouble
passing courses that involve writing at the university level. Making a
course easy just because it is taught at the community college level does a
grave disservice to serious college students.
My job is to help make everyone who takes my course a better
writer. That is accomplished largely through my critiquing of your
writing. I will praise your work when it is good, but the most important
kind of feedback I can give you is constructive criticism.
If you want to learn skills that will reward you with a
critical mind and make you a competitive university student when you transfer,
then take my course. If you want an "easy" A, this is the wrong
freshman writing course to take. If you want to earn an
"A", be up for the challenge of hard work of superior quality.
Fullerton College offers college credit based on
something called the Harvard unit. That basically means that for every
hour of class time, the college expects you to complete a minimum of of 3
hours of work each week: 1 hour in class and two outside of class.
So for a 4-hour course, the college expects 12 hours of work: 4 in class and 8
outside of class (18 out-of-class homework hours per week during summer
courses). If you spend 8 hours per week doing homework (reading, studying
notes, writing essay drafts, etc.), you should be able to pass the course with a
grade of "C". To get a grade of "A" or "B",
you obviously need to invest more time.
In general, writing courses--because of their
nature--tend to involve a slightly higher time commitment. In my course,
you typically will spend 2 weeks working on each essay. I estimate that
you should be spending around 7-8 hours to earn a passing grade of C. So,
that means roughly 3 to 4 hours per week devoted to writing/drafting your
essays and an additional 3 hours doing your reading, studying, and CE 6 work
(discussion forums, quizzes, etc.) If you are aiming for an A or B grade,
then you need to invest a total of 10-12 essay hours over the two weeks.
| FAQs About Technology Concerns: |
Internet Explorer,
version 7.0 .
By "supported", I mean that I will be glad to
help you and will do my best to answer questions about it. But remember,
you should be fairly technologically literate. See
above.
Maybe. AOL has been known to cause some
conflicts while logged in to CE 6. If you are an AOL user, once you login to
CE 6, click the
CHECK BROWSER button
to test the compatibility of your AOL Web browser. It's a good idea to use
check even your non-AOL Web browser.
Yes. Again, the critical thing to do is
login to your CE 6 account and click the click the
CHECK BROWSER button to check your
browser's compatibility.
I am not able to help you use Netscape Navigator. Sorry.
Yes,
private, individual email accounts are required for this course.
Throughout the semester I will be communicating with you confidentially about
your grades or progress, and I believe it is important to respect your right to
privacy since you are over 18 years of age. So
whether you have your own account or will be getting one, give some careful
thought when picking a username.
-
Because
you are now in college, pick a professional-sounding account name.
The standard is first initial and last name (wshakespeare@hotmail.com).
These are also best because other users can immediately see
who is sending the message.
-
email
accounts that reflect your personality or that are meant to be pick-up lines
like lisalicious@hotmail.com or gifttowomen@yahoo.com are best
saved for friends, family, and dating relationships.
-
Once
you’ve chosen an account name, set up your profile so that when you
send out messages your name appears in place of your actual email address.
Most mail client readers like MS Outlook
and Web-based email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail allow you to configure your account this way.
You
can go to web mail service portals like
Gmail.com,
Hotmail.com,
or Yahoo.com and set up free web
email accounts that you can access from anywhere on the Net.
These also provide free spam filters to weed out junk mail, and you also
can retrieve at this central location mail from all your other accounts.
All the files I work with are in Microsoft
Word 2003 SP3.
Because MS Word is an industry standard, you should become familiar with
that software tool. So I'll be happy to answer any questions you might
have about Word, but I cannot troubleshoot any problems you have with any
other software. Any files that I make available for downloads will be in
the Word format. If you do not have access to a copy of MS Word,
you may download a copy of Microsoft's Word Viewer from the RESOURCES
link.
One of my requirements for this course is that you use
an essay template for all your written work you submit. You can find a
template file for your word processor under the RESOURCES
link on the left navigation bar.
Ideally you should have broadband access (a cable modem
or DSL connection) from home. A 56.6 kbps modem will work fine, but do not
try to use anything slower than a 28.8 kbps modem. You will pull your hair
out because the speed will be too slow. You really should have Internet
access from home, primarily for the convenience, but you could theoretically
complete your work from the FCNet campus network if you sign-up for a FCNet
account.
Try one of these broadband services depending on your
geographical location within Southern California:
-
Time Warner Cable (formerly
Adelphia, formerly Comcast@Home in the Placentia/Fullerton areas)
- www.cox.com
- or contact your local cable TV provider
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